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Tuesday, 17 December 2013

In the run-up to Christmas the toy-industry marketing machine goes into overdrive. Just like any other parent, I've wrapped up lots of new toys for my little girl. But I thought I'd share one of my daughter's favourite toys. Something she plays with nearly everyday. And it's not new...far from it. It was mine when I was a little girl. It dates from the late 70s and was part of a collection created by Fisher Price.
I had quite a few pieces, including this hospital. My Mum has kept all of them and as you can see from the photos, they are still in fantastic condition. Fisher Price made some amazing toys in the 70s and 80s. They really fired-up my imagination up as a child and they are still doing the same today with my daughter. She will quite happily play in her room acting out countless scenarios with this hospital...people get trapped, babies get sick, someone gets stuck on a roof.
What's so lovely about the Fisher Price toys is the attention to detail. I think the X-ray machine is my favourite part. It's a simple concept, press down on the footplate and the "X-ray" sign turns into a rib-cage. I love it, it's got so many humorous little touches. The ambulance is great too and the working lift, operated by a handle on the side, is as popular with my daughter as it was with me!
Obviously, it makes me feel ancient that my childhood toys are now classed as "vintage"...but it also goes to show, good toys never go out of date...

If you'd like to see more retro goodies, head on over to my "Vintage Finds" board over on Pinterest...

Monday, 2 December 2013

Once the weather turns a bit parky, it's all so easy to shut yourself indoors. Given half a chance, I could probably quite happily hibernate from November 1st through to, well, April 1st. But with an energetic four year old in the house and an in-built desire all Brits have to make the most of every drop of sunshine, we went for a walk on the beach on Saturday. We're really lucky to live so close to some lovely, untouched beaches, so it would be a travesty not to go down there when the sun makes an appearance!

Although we don't face out to sea, even in the Bristol Channel we get some great opportunities to do a bit of beach combing. In the past we've found all sorts of things from sea-bleached driftwood, crates, fishing nets, plastic floats right through to a US Army truck wheel.

Weston Bay has one one of the biggest tidal ranges in the world, in the Bay, the low tide mark is over a mile away from the seafront. So there's great scope for a bit of tideline rummaging, especially in the Winter when the tides are even higher and even more gubbins is bought up onto the beach.

On our beach combing excursion we found lots of strange pieces of wood, there was even a whole tree washed up on the beach. It's par for the course that my daughter has to crawl and climb all over the driftwood. Plus we had a 'strange stone hunt' and decorated the washed-up tree trunk with or finds.

I'm linking up with the Country Kids Linky (#countrykids) hosted by the Lovely Coombe Mill

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I like to blog about vintage finds, my latest crafting project and share ideas for entertaining children. You can also find me on Instagram and Twitter.

I'm a proud Mum to our beautiful little girl. She brings out the big kid in me and we like to do creative and silly things together. As a family we love walking, camping, den building, digging our allotment and beach combing...we're happiest when making the most of the great outdoors.